


Just Say You're In Love!

by khgirl153



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, I was inspired by certain song, No one can tell me that Alya wouldn't do this, fluff for reals this time, i promise that this will definitely end happily
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 08:29:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5490518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khgirl153/pseuds/khgirl153
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alya had put the pieces together and knows that her best friend is Ladybug and that her crush is Chat Noir. But what is she going to do about it without letting them know that she knows? It's not like she's going to try and set them up on a romantic scheme and just convince Marinette that her budding feelings for Chat are just as strong as when he's Adrien just because she was inspired by a song in a movie cartoon.</p>
<p>Or is she?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Phase 1

When Alya photo shopped Adrien’s picture in Chat Noir’s costume, she knew. The similarities were WAY too obvious to just be a coincidence. The same golden hue in his hair. The gleam in his eyes that were both at once mischievous and charming.

And this reporter in the making didn’t make the Ladyblog just about her idol.

No sir.

She was also on the prowl for Ladybug’s feline companion.

So when Alya saw Adrien the next day at school, she took careful notes of his height, weight, and general proportions while trying not to look too obvious or make it look like she had a crush on him in front of Marinette (who never took her eyes off of him anyway). When she got home the next day, she compared her notes with what she was able to capture from her ventures of ~~stalking~~ ~~spying~~ informatively gaining helpful details about Paris’s beloved heroes.

It was so painfully obvious she was shocked that she didn’t fall out of her chair screaming her head off.

What bugged her though (no pun intended) was how painfully obvious Marinette is.

C’mon.

Alya wasn’t an ace junior reporter and Marinette’s best friend for nothing.

That girl can deny it all she likes and pretend that there’s nothing out of the ordinary. Alya’s cool with that. It’s not like she was deliberately throwing somewhat false leads out to the public so that no one can pick up on Marinette’s trail. Especially when she knows that a certain guy that a certain best friend of hers has been crushing on for ages is a frequent Ladyblog visitor due to his whispered conversations with Nino (who happens to report to Alya).

But when she caught Chat Noir visiting Marinette that one night, tapping on her rooftop trap door, calling her “Princess”, ridiculous puns rolling off his tongue, and Marinette laughing while wearing THAT face, the one with a soft smile, crinkles on the corners of her eyes as she laughed, and a playful jab to Chat Noir’s ticklish ribs, Alya was ready to put her foot down.

Seriously. It was fine that Marinette didn’t want anyone knowing that she was Ladybug. It was fine that Marinette didn’t want to share that critical piece of information with the creator of the Ladyblog. It was also fine that Alya didn’t have to know every single detail about Marinette’s private life.

What WASN’T fine though was the fact that Marinette was seeing Adrien and not knowing that she was seeing Adrien and him not knowing that he was seeing Ladybug and the two of them being idiots because if this keeps up Adrien is going to fall for the side of Marinette that he can’t see at school since she falls to pieces all the time in front of him but he’s too dumb to realize it’s because she has a crush on him while in the meantime he’s head over paws for Ladybug who happens to be Marinette who seems to be getting a crush on Chat Noir who is Adrien…

At home, Alya pounds her elbows on her computer desk, making her personal laptop rattle slightly as she sets aside her glasses and massages her temples.

“I need an aspirin…” Alya mutters.

Honestly. How can two people be so in love with each other and they don’t even see it? Is it the whole “love is blind” scheme? Is this some kind of crazy love story featuring two hopeless teenagers that fans all over the world are screaming over in some other dimension?

Okay now that’s just ridiculous. What kind of crazy person would make a story like that anyway?

How is Alya going to work with this? Without letting Marinette know that she knows?

She makes a mental checklist and formulates precautions.

Nino can’t help her out. It wasn’t because he was Adrien’s best friend or that he wasn’t reliable. But it was no secret that he’s a huge Chat Noir fanboy. If Nino found out that Adrien was his favorite superhero and he was wrapped up in this scheme, he would be way too obvious. Nino was an open and friendly guy who wasn’t the type to keep secrets from anyone, much less his best friend. Not only that but he would probably be hounding Alya for possible leads on Ladybug and get an idea to get the two heroes together.

If Adrien is going to fall for Marinette, it can’t just be when she’s Ladybug. He already likes that side of her. What’s important right now is for him to fall for her as a normal girl.

That being said, Alya also can’t be obvious and try to bring up Chat Noir in normal conversation. Especially since she’s been on the poor girl’s case about trying to not get tongue tied around him when he’s Adrien. And considering the last time that Alya even tossed out the “casual” idea that Adrien was Chat Noir and had seen how aggressive Marinette was in denying it, something tells her that she’ll take this scheme even less graciously.

Suddenly, Alya heard loud squeals coming from her little sisters downstairs. She sighed, shoved herself out of her comfy chair, and trudged down the steps.

“Might as well make sure they aren’t making a mess.” Alya muttered, knowing that her parents won’t be too happy with any of them if they came home to a messy living room.  
When she got off the last stair step, Alya was ready to scold the girls for being so loud, especially when she had a huge dilemma on her hands. But when she saw that her sisters were watching their favorite “Hercules” cartoon video, Alya paused mid raised finger when she saw Hercules giving a goofy grin to Meg as he flew away on Pegasus. They must have just squealed when he kissed her cheek.

This was such an old video and Alya had watched it a million times with Marinette when they were little. Looking at it made Alya feel kind of nostalgic and she found herself flopping down next to one of her sisters and watching the movie with them.

Meg had just been grinning stupidly to herself while she was toying with the flower that Hercules gave her. Then she gave a disgusted scowl…much like the one that Marinette had that day. Finally, Meg began singing her famous song and the musical muses were like puzzle pieces falling onto Alya’s lap like, “Hey! Look at us! Try this!”

Alya smirked as she shot out of her seat, ignored her sisters’ whines, and whipped out her phone.

This called for a females touch.

Along with a little text to Adrien.

“Did you know that Marinette likes flowers?”

Cue the ~~stalking~~ ~~spying~~ stakeout later that night. Cue a certain best friend out on her balcony sipping tea, and a certain black cat leaping onto the said balcony. Cue him presenting to her a single red rose. Cue her accepting the rose with her right hand.

Phase 1: Complete.


	2. Phase 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya is ready to initiate "the plan". But she's going to need some help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to get out. ^^; Thank you to everyone who has read this story and any other story that I have made so far. Please feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think. Enjoy!

Alya: _Hey girl! :D You ready for study group? Rose and Alix are DYING to get your notes and Juleka and Mylene want to review chapter 6 before tomorrow._

Marinette: _Already got everything set up! ^^ Just come on over whenever you guys are ready!_

Alya wasn’t lying. She really wasn’t. They really did have a physics test tomorrow for school. And they really did need to review their materials and Marinette’s house just happens to have delicious goodies that they could munch on as they worked. And it was literally next door to their school, so if they wanted to have a sleepover, it would all work out.

And Alya didn’t bring an empty soda bottle so that she could instigate a plan that would hopefully, FINALLY, get her best friend into the loving arms of her adoring, dorky kitty partner. Her partner whom happened to be a physics genius and whom Alya happened to “accidentally” see him giving Marinette one-on-one study sessions on her balcony after he gave her that rose last night.

…Okay, so that last part was the lie. At least the bottle part. But it was for a good cause! It was in the name of love! And the splitting headache…

Alya smiled to herself and shook her head as she stowed her cellphone away when Marinette’s bakery/apartment came in sight. Right before she had texted Marinette earlier that day before school started, Alya had gathered Alix, Juleka, Rose, and Mylene for lunch at her house after Marinette left to eat lunch at her own home.

When Alya showed the picture that she had snapped of Marinette accepting Chat Noir’s rose, all of them let out high pitched squeals from their seats.

“This is so romantic!” Rose gushed, lifting off from her pale blue beanbag and twirling in place like a ballerina in the middle of Alya’s (somewhat messy) room. Her pale cheeks flushed to an adorable pink as if she was living out her fairy tale daydream. “A dark clad hero in the city of love finds love for himself! With a girl as sweet and kind as Marinette!”

Mylene giggled and fingered the pin that her dear boyfriend, Ivan, had given to her a couple months back.

“I’m so happy for her.” She sighed, knowing only too well how beautiful and blissful young love is.

Juleka glanced at Rose, worried that she was going to trip over something if she doesn’t stop twirling. But she couldn’t hold back a smile herself as she held Alya’s phone and looked at the picture of the two.

“This is really rad.” Juleka said, her eyes twinkling behind her black curtain of hair. “Do you think that they’re dating already?”

Alix clicked her tongue and snatched the phone out of Juleka’s hands, giving the picture a once over.

“I wouldn’t count on it.” Incredulous, she turned the phone so that everyone could see it. She points to Marinette’s profile, where they could faintly see a tiny smile in the darkish picture, highlighted only by the Parisian streetlamps (Alya made sure to turn off her flash so that the duo wouldn’t notice her. She would die if they did. In more than one way.) “Doesn’t Marinette still have a crush on Adrien? I mean, I know that he hasn’t really made any moves on her, but we can’t forget that Marinette’s been head over heels for him since the moment she saw him over a year ago.” She rolls her eyes with a smirk. “And EVERYONE knows that Chat Noir is in love with Ladybug. That guy’s even more painfully obvious than Marinette.”

Alya was prepared for this moment. The moment where she knows that chaos will erupt and the world will spin. If just for a moment before they can initiate “the plan”.

“Well,” Alya cleared her throat and snatched her phone back, scrolling through her photo shopped pictures that compared a certain duo with another certain duo. “Lookie what I have here.”

Alya thrusts out the specially made image on her phone towards the four girls, who stared at the phone, stared at Alya, and stared at the phone again.

Silence.

“Saw that coming.” Juleka chuckled and crossed her arms.

“That makes sense.” Rose agreed with a chirp.

“Especially since that Horrificator episode.” Alix said, nudging Mylene’s side.

“Please don’t bring that up again.” Mylene groaned, rolling her eyes.

Well…so much for chaos.

“So…” Alya began, pursing her lips and scrunching her eyebrows. “You guys suspected something too?”

Juleka shrugged with a smile still dancing across her face.

“I work with makeup all the time thanks to my dad needing an impromptu touch up before he goes up on stage.” She explained, thinking about the famous rock star, “Jagged Stone”. “I’m kind of used to seeing people I know get all dressed up in weird costumes.”

Alix nodded.

“And we see those two almost every day. AND Adrien’s picture is literally plastered all over Paris. How can we not see it?”

Rose giggled, cupping her cheeks in her hands.

“I wonder if they know yet. This is sooo…~” She trailed off with another giggle.

Juleka held back a chuckle of her own as she glanced at her best friend.

“Romantic?” She guessed.

Rose just clapped her hands and plopped back down on Alya’s beanbag chair.

It was Alya’s turn to stare at her friends in wonder. Maybe this plan wasn’t going to go bad after all.

Shaking her head again and clearing her throat for attention, Alya got down to the nitty gritty of their secret meeting.

“Alright. Since we’re all in agreement that we all ship Adrien and Marinette together, whether they are Ladybug and Chat Noir or not, then we can all also agree that we’ll do what it takes to get them together?”

They all nodded.

“Thank goodness that Prince Ali guy showed up.” Alix mumbled, toying with a strap on her shoe. “At least Chloe is distracted for a while.”

Everyone laughed.

“I’m guessing you have a plan Alya?” Mylene asked with an excited glimmer in her eyes, clasping her hands together.

Alya only smirked.

Phase Two: “Get The Muses Together”: Complete.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just have this head canon that "Jagged Stone" is Juleka's father and that she likes to work as his little makeup artist. I just think it's so cute~


	3. Phase 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where Alya starts getting doubts. Better ring in some help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, I know that the latest episode of Miraculous just came out today, but it was SO CUTE! Albeit a little painful here and there. T-T But anyhoo, if you haven't seen it yet, then I recommend that you don't read this fanfic yet because there might be some spoilers here and there. Otherwise, enjoy and leave a comment!

“Hi guys!” Marinette beamed as the girls entered her room, who were giggling and smiling back at Marinette. They must be really excited about the pastries she had procured. It’s a wonder how well a few well selected cookies and tarts can make people so excited for studying for physics.

Oh how little she knew…

Marinette is going to kill her for this. But at least Alya will go down as the ultimate wing-woman of the century. And at least she’s going to have some bodyguards in case things go awry and Chloe decides that Prince Ali isn’t her prince charming. Or if Prince Ali doesn’t hightail it back to his castle.

But they couldn’t do anything right off the bat of course. They couldn’t look suspicious or pounce on the poor girl without a least making sure that things were still friendly between them all in the end. Because, seriously, they all want to keep their friendships intact in the end. This could potentially blow up so badly in their faces if they were wrong.

  
At least Alya has her own sweet dorky boyfriend to talk to if this goes wrong.

No! This can’t go wrong!

But what if… Should she just bail?

Snap!

Alya winced and glanced at her mechanical pencil, gritting her teeth as she clicked out more lead.

_This is such a stupid idea! What are you thinking?!_ Alya’s brain was steaming as she skimmed over the quantum physics notes that Marinette had lent her. _Just get the girls together and tell them to drop the plan! You can just have a fun study group with them, maintain your friendship, and go on your merry way! They can figure it out for themselves! Adrien tried to help pair her up with Nino anyway! Even if he was trying to respect his best friend’s feelings-!_

“Alya?” Rose whispered.

She turned to her and saw large light blue eyes stare at her with concern. Rose glanced at Marinette, who was in deep conversation with Mylene over a problem they were struggling with, and looked back at Alya. She smiled a little and rubbed a thumb over Alya’s creased forehead, a motherly look taking over her countenance.

“Do you want to call Nino?” Rose smiled bigger. She knew. Somehow, despite Rose’s surface flightiness, she always had a way of knowing. Maybe that’s why she and the typically stoic Juleka are so close.

Almost as if on cue, Juleka placed a warm hand on Alya’s tense shoulders and nodded with her own smile.

“Go ahead. That’s what boyfriends are for. Right?” Juleka winked as Alya blushed.

Marinette, noticing the murmuring between her best friend and the girls, finally looked up at them. What could be making Alya so nervous? Was the test really that big of a deal?  
She wanted to ask, if only to be able to help her out and give her a good pep talk, but Alya was already clutching her phone and scurrying down Marinette’s ladder.

***

_*ding ding**ding ding*_

Nino launched his head up from his desk at home, grumbling when a piece of paper stuck to his forehead. Stupid physics. Seriously, how can Adrien love this subject? Nino’s sure that he’s going to bob his friend upside the head if he tells him again how easy science was.

“Oh right. Phone.” He mumbled, rubbing his face. But the sandman’s sleepy dust shot out of his eyes when he saw his girlfriend’s smiling picture. Man, Nino owes Ladybug BIG TIME for locking him in that panther cage with her.

“How’s my favorite girl?!” Nino all but purred, grinning ear to ear and leaning back leisurely in his chair. That grin dropped though when Alya didn’t respond right away. When he heard a stressed out sigh, Nino straightened up immediately. “Hey. What’s up?”

“Nino. I need to talk to you.” Alya’s voice on the other line sounded exhausted and tight. Now was definitely not the time to be making wisecracks.

“I’m all ears babe. I’m here.” Nino affirmed, holding the phone close to his ear and moving to lay down on his bed. “I’m here all you want.”

He heard Alya sigh in relief.

“Nino, I think I’m doing something really stupid.” She began. Nino didn’t dare try to cut her off. “I can’t tell you exactly what’s going on, but…I’m scared.”

Nino took off his cap and scratched his head.

“You know that I’m here for you right? Whatever happens.”

“I know. I know.” She sighs again and takes a deep breath. “I’m trying to help a friend out. All I want to do is help her but I don’t know if I’m doing it the right way.”

“What do you mean?”

“Again, I can’t tell you the details… But…”

Alya trailed off and went silent. If Nino wasn’t mistaken, he thought that he could hear her crying on the other end. Like she was trying to hold back and not get caught.

“Where are you right now?” He asked, leaping off his bed and pulling his cap back on. “I’ll come right over.”

“No!” Alya yelled. She gasped and Nino thought he heard her slap a hand across her mouth. “No… Just…listen.”

He took a deep breath and fiddled with his headphones.

“I’m listening.”

Alya took a few more deep breathes, trying to calm herself down.

“Look, I thought that I was making a good plan here. I’ve gathered some girl friends from class who want to help me out with this and I feel like I’ve gone in too deep but not so deep that I can’t pull out of it yet. But what I’m going to do could either make something beautiful happen or completely wreck more than one friendship. I don’t know that I was thinking when I was making this plan but now I feel so! Urgh!”

It must not have been easy trying to whisper-yell this. Nino could feel how frustrated Alya was through the phone.

“Do your friends think it’s a good idea?” He began, trying to make himself smile. It’s been said that you sound a bit more cheerful on the phone when you smile, so maybe this can help Alya. If just a little bit.

“No one told me it was a BAD idea.” Alya mumbled.

“Not saying that it makes the plan any better, but if you have a group of friends who want to help you, then at least you know that you’re not alone.” Nino said. “And I’m not going to encourage or discourage your plans, but I need to ask you something?”

“What?”

“Why are you doing it in the first place?”

A pause. Nino waited.

“I…” She began. “I just want to help my best friend. She’s done so much for other people… She deserves her own happiness…”

“So you want to do it because you love your best friend?” Nino summed up with a larger grin. That’s just one of the reasons why he liked Alya so much. She was as feisty as she was big hearted. “Then I’ll let you be the judge of what you need to do. But Alya, let me tell you this.”

She hummed.

“Any friend would be lucky to have someone like you by their side.”

Alya giggled. “Thanks Nino. You’re awesome.”

Nino laughed in return. “You can thank me by swiping some macaroons when you leave Marinette’s place.”

“How did you-?!”

“C’mon! Who else would you call your best friend? Besides me of course.”

Alya laughed, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. “Thanks Nino. I needed that. And I’ll see what I can do about the macaroons.”

Nino grinned and sat back in his chair, purposefully ignoring his homework. “And I’ll look forward to seeing YOU.”

***

Alya rolled her eyes and laughed again. Her boyfriend can be such a dork sometimes. But maybe it really was true what they said about ladybugs helping out with love. It was still a little early in their relationship to call it that, but there was definitely something special about that guy.

“Alright. I’ll call you later.” She finished, hanging up.

Opening the door to the second floor bathroom below Marinette’s room, Rose was waiting for her, concern giving way to relief due to the new found confidence in Alya’s posture. Thank goodness the other three were keeping a worried Marinette distracted.

It was time to play.

Phase 3: Establish base of operations: Complete.

**Author's Note:**

> When I heard the song from "Hercules", "I Won't Say I'm In Love", I couldn't help it. I can totally see Alya doing this if she found out the truth behind the mask of our heroes. It would be a chaotic day for her best friend and it would be a great day for us fans. :)


End file.
